That pretty much sums up my take on it. I read a lot of complaining about how bad S3 was, but I ended up thinking it was pretty decent overall. The whole Lauren & Sark thing was interesting.

To me, the absolute low point of this show was the first part of the current S4. I stuck with it but there were some really boring episodes there that just held little to no interest and didn't seem to move the overall story line along at all. Lately though it has started to pick up a lot and I've been more intrigued and enjoying the last 3 or 4 episodes.

I watched the first 3 seasons on DVD only. For the current S4 I've been recording the HD broadcast on the DVR.

This season has frankly sucked total ass. But I kept with it...like someone pointed out ....what else is there to watch...not much. Least I get to look at Jen...but the more I think about Ben A getting that the more that aspect annoys me too lol.

First two seasons were awesome...I dont even know why this dude is complaining lol. Just wait till you get to 4, you'll then wanna kill yourself likely.

I said the following in another Alias thread:

Overall, season 3 is decent but it loses control during the last few episodes. The best part, though it didn't last long enough, was that a certain character ends up in a situations similar to Sydney's in season 1 and for several episodes this character has her for a handler. It was an interesting role reversal that should have been kept longer. The Sark/Lauren dynamic is indeed interesting (and much better upon second viewing) but gets rushed towards the end.

Did ABC threaten to pull the plug before greenlighting season 4, because the writers seemed in a hurry to do away with way too many plot lines in a short period of time during season 3?

Season 4 has been mostly damage control and thus on the dull side. Though it has picked up inthe last few episodes and seems like Alias may be gradually getting back on track. But given the nature of APO, there should be more scenes involving the lives of its members with people in their lives unaware of what they really do. They did this in one episode with Marshall but it hasn't been enough.

Well, I finished Season Two last night.

While the last six episodes surely were not as strong as anything from the season prior, they were still entertaining and thankfully flirted a bit more with the cost of more than one identity. Some nice stuff involving Dixon, Marshall and Will. Only touched slightly on Sydney's story, though what was there was decent.

To be honest, however, wasn't so bowled over by the big cliffhanger. If anything, it may have been anti-climatic to what preceeded it.

Still not sure if I'll go to Season Three. Just don't feel that need to continue that I had going from Season One to Season Two. I'll probably at least dip my foot in the pool at some time. But it might not be for quite some time. You know...sleep can be nice too.

yeah keep watching it, people are way to harsh, watch one episode of season 4 and give up, they act like its the worst thing ever on tv. season four isnt as strong as the others but its been getting better and better

I've been following since the 1st episode, 1st season.
Season 3 was iffey (jumping forward, memory loss)
Season 4 almost loss me for good. It seemed it jumped the shark every spisode. the one that got me was about the 4th or 5th episode with the ....HUH!!

the past few episodes have gotten back on track.

oh well, next season should be the last. ideas are getting thin and there are only so many underground clubs in Berlin.

This show has definitely disappointed me. I got some friends who are huge fans, so before Season 4 I watched the first two seasons on DVD. I loved 'em. I didn't have time to watch Season 3, so that kind of sucked. But I heard it wasn't very good anyway. Quite frankly though, Alias suffers from the same problem that I eventually had with X-Files. The writers have no idea where they're going, and I'm fed up. Season 4 is just so bad, and so ridiculous, that I just can't take it anymore. What messed everything up for me is Sydney's mom not returning. There was all this building and foreshadowing and then boom, no payoff. And what's up with all this Rimbaldi crap? Does it ever really go anywhere? I just feel like the writers throw in every possible stupid twist possible and no one ever really dies. It frustrates me because I feel that Alias could've amounted to so much more. But they just messed it up so bad, it's painful to watch now.

I felt the same way the OP felt after Phase One - I was nodding my head and grinning ear to ear during each episode until that one came along and wiped the smile off my face. It hasn't returned since.

I immediately rushed out to buy season 1 after getting hooked by the series' first few episodes. I loved it all the way to the end. I bought season 2, loved it until Phase One, then felt cheated. I also don't think a "reboot" HAD to happen at all. And what does that say about the writers, when they choose a premise for a TV show that they eventually feel restricted by? Maybe J.J. Abrams should have come up with a different idea for the pilot if he couldn't keep going with what he originally promised.

Anyway, I say all this because I sort of liked the last part of season 2, but felt the cliffhanger was completely contrived. They simply had nowhere else to go, so they established a third season based on amnesia. I think season 3 proves that they really didn't have anything planned out and Abrams made a mistake with Phase One. (Didn't he admit to this in an interview?)

Yeah, I rented season 3, and thought it got better after Sydney discovers what happened to her during those two years. Well, for awhile...until the final few episodes, when a certain new female character is introduced to the show and it all went to hell. The finale gave me Scooby Doo/Mission: Impossible masks. Which means, why does Sydney ever need to use her disguises if these ridiculous things are available?

I'm waiting for season 4 on DVD. I've heard it's good from several sources, but everyone on these forums seems to hate it (not surprising). From what I've gathered, I'm guessing I should rent it. Too bad Alias ended up this way.

I think the premise of the show actually made the reboot necessary. If it was just Sydney as a double agent, it could have kept going. But eventually something was going to happen to her or Jack, and they both would go down for it. Suspicion had already been there enough where it would have entered into a world of complete implausibility (well, within the confines of its universe anyway) without breaking out of that mold.

The problem I have is with the writers feeling a need to either eliminate or give too much knowledge to each of the supporting players. Sydney's second life is what made it interesting. By taking away any complexity in her life and reducing her down to a single motive (revenge against Sloane), she ceased to be interesting enough to push the stories forward.

And to make things worse, the people around her are slowly being turned into one-dimensional characters as well. I hope some of this is turned around in Season Three, but from the sound of things, that doesn't seem to be the case.

One last thing: they've got to ditch the opening-with-a-shot-from-later-in-the-episode thing. The first couple of times it was used, it was interesting. But now it just seems gimmicky (esp. in the Tuscany episode).

I've watched Alias in a round about way, which has probably given me a different view than others. I had never seen an episode until the Season 4 premiere. Normally that wouldn't have even been on my radar but when 13 Going on 30 came out on dvd I enjoyed it & thought that Jennifer Garner might be likeable. Plus it has Michael Vartan who I adored in Never Been Kissed, so I thought I'd finally check it out. I think one of the strange things is that I'd tried to watch an episode here or there during one of the last seasons, but it seemed like whenever I put it on it was just people in a conference room talking, which didn't really seem interesting. So I never had given it a chance.

After I saw the first 2 part episode of Season 4 I wanted to see more. I didn't have a ton of money to plunk down at once though. So I was trying to buy the dvds on ebay. Well what happened was that I had set an arbitrary price point that I wanted to spend & I could never get the first 2 seasons for that price, but it was easy to get season 3 for less than I'd even decided to spend. Like a month later I was able to get the other 2 seasons at a good price. So I watched Season 3 before I ever saw Seasons 1 or 2. I really liked it. After that I watched Season 1 & then visited my sister who was also getting into Alias after renting S1 from Blockbuster. She marathons shows so one day when she was sick we tore threw the first half of Season 2.

Anyway, my favorite seasons are 1 & 3. Then 2 & now Season 4. I really liked some of the Jack & Irena episodes in Season 2 & some of the stranger episodes in 4 (such as the suburbs).

An update:

I'm now four episodes into Season Three. Not sure I'll make it much further.

Outside of Sark, I can not think of one even remotely interesting or complex character remaining. Even in terms of plot, it seems to be running on empty, lacking any of the fun or quirkiness present in the first two seasons.

I'm afraid I'm continuing to watch now out of habit instead of interest